Tire tread transfer apparatus



Sept. 1, 1959 Filed June 26, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ARTHUR E.Mrsou FRED K. BARNS car/$1 AT TY.

p 9 9 A. E. WATSON ETAL Q 2,902,082

TIRE TREAD TRANSFER APPARATUS Filed June 26, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 3uvmvrozas ARTHUR EV/ATsoN F' |G.3 BY FRED K.BARNS ATTY.

IN VEN TORS ARTHUR EMTsoN FRED K. BARNS ATTY.

Sept. 1, 1959 A. E. WATSON ET AL TIRE TREAD TRANSFER APPARATUS FiledJune 26, 1957 W EI, 1

Sept. 1, 1959 A. E. WATSON ETAL TIRE TREAD TRANSFER APPARATUS 6Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 26, 1957 INVENTORS ARTHUR E. WATSON By FRED K.BARNS ATTY;

Sept. 1, 1959 Filed June 26, 1957 A. E. WATSON ET AL TIRE TREAD TRANSFERAPPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 J 4/ I x r 1' l1 7 FP- g i i a if? i 48 I INV EN TORS ARTHUR E. MTSON By FRED K. BARN-S ATTY.

United States Patent "ice ,ifffgiii arin it n n lleltosthe treadapnl iconveyor- The e adparrier ,supportis thenyertically lowered to placetlie. ,trea'd on.theiapply nglsonv ygr d t e vacuum iS released.The'tigead carrier isthen restored to, its horizon-- tal position landit is alsq lifted to it .vertically upperl'm t no it cntwh poa thea rt ssw a to the dryingwconveyor to .r sfieive. the next tr eadband. In the Vme. e t ead anp y a'cqnv yq iis a vat along withlthei huildisdruniitdwrap thet ad st p to the carcass on the/drum.

-,. '.lhe ,manner in, which invention may, be practiced will 'be,apparent, to; those skilled ,jn ,themart from the following vdeta ed decription of a.. .pr.ef,e1:red embodiment thereof: i i ;l...-.flhis-.invention relates. to altire buildingappar n .15 Fig, 1-.,is,,ageneral plan ,yiewofpart, ofanrautomatic ...more specificallyntosanapparatus ,for transferring an e 're buildin achi ShOWing a Qgflagjacgnt h truded length of tread rubber stock from one-conveyoranatuspf this invention;

- running .in one planeto vanotherfionveyorr Wh s e, l ,FigHZ is a side,viewpf the transfer unit positioned .treadaapplying.conveyorthat runs inanother plane. H qyenthe tread ,applying conveyor;

This invention isparticularly us eful in-connection with 0 i the stationto station type of automatic tire building ma; Fig. A is a, side,yiewofftheheadstructure; chine as described in the patent to Sternad et a1.2',319,- Fig.5 issaplanview ,Qftheheadstructure; 6.4.3;assigned to TheGoodrichcompany. Machines, Eig- 613. -Sq L r 0 gofthistype includeaplurality of aligned building stations, ..Eig' .is a ,yertical sectionof a vacuum pick up head; each .oneio-f. which mounts a; tire buildingdrum, there. Big ,3 is a sectionlof the headon 8+8 of Fig, 7;

" APPARATUS A thur. W tson. L ca t r, and F ed. Ba n q I Ohi' assignorsto, The B FnGoodricli-Company, New

" 1York, a corporation of New York Application June 26,1957, Serial No,668,056

. 7 Claims. I (Cl. 154-9) ,Fig lis a, front yiew, of theJmit,in,.the,same position;-

i -being. an-operationperformed in each station with the I i.dru'ms'and. the partially finished tire carcass thereon suc.- and vcessively transferred from station to station. Big. 1 0,,isca,,planview..of,the lower end of. the stop The apparatus of thisinvention is employedat the stadevice for tread applying/conveyor, ith.other parts 'tion wherein theextruded length ofntread rubber isap-.3Q.,removed. pliedto the. carcasson a building drum. These lengths,of tread rubber,.after,.extrusion,. pass through a liquid Referring. toFig. l thetransfer devicelT is, shown positioned; at. a station tostation type, of, automatic tire bath which brings thenrto auniforrntemperature and abuilding machine. ,Themachine hasatreadapplying staphysical condition and they areout tqthe proper length ,tion10;.thatlfo1lqws a seriesof stations and is. followed a and placedsideby ,side in a row on avdrying conveyor. that brings the. lengths oftread stock to ithetread apply:r .ringtdrum station. Thisconveyorlusually runs in a hori-v zontal plane at the .tire buildingmachine. Situated substantially tangent to .andabove the tread applyingbuild.-

5.. bypther stations 11,,etc, Building dnumsare transferred fr rnpstatin tQ l-stat-ion.,by mechanismpnot shown and w hichiormsnopartof ,theinvention, and different opera- ,tions are performed at each station.vThe-aforesaid patent IUQS, 2,3:19,,643-fshows suitable-drum transfermeans.

Hing drum is the tread applying conveyor, which is disposed Dispos ed;above stations ,10sand 11; is atread applying at an angle to th'ehorizontal plane in order that the end conveyor, 13 which extendsdownwardly from its'rearward of the conveyor remote fromflthe buildingdrum will portiomwhere. it clears station 11, its forward portion clear.the building drum at the next station. Lengths-of beingsubstantiallydangent to the drurn'at station 10, Thi 1 tread stock mustbe transferredfrom: thev drying coneconveyoris driveneinterrnittently inproperly'timed rela- 4 veyor to .the inclined applying-conveyor. afterwhich the.- it. tionshipto operation of the'other units.

applying-conveyor is operatedto lay the stock tangentially: Leading tothe tread applying station 111 is a drying ou the buildingdrum at itslower endas the drum is; -or delivery conveyor: 14 having -a: terminaldrum 15. rotated, causing the tread strip. to be wrapped around Treadstrips 16 of? extruded, unvulcanized stock are disthe carcass on thedrum, there being stitching apparatus posed crosswise on the conveyorbelt :and reach the buildat thedrum topress the stock against .thecarcass. If ling machine travelling in-a horizontal'plane. This concareis no taken in the handling ofthe tread stock during,;/ veyoris alsodriven intermittently inthe proper cycle relathe transfer operation,distortion thereof is apt to occur, resulting in a light or a heavy spotin the finished tire which will cause the phenomenon known as thump,and;

may cause other defects.

I The apparatus of this invention includes a tread carrier support and atread carrier pivoted on one end ofthe support.- Thetread carrier hastwo positions relative to its support, .(1) a vertical positionand (2)an in clined position. A pivotallymounted arm swings the .tread carrierfrom a position overlyingthe drying conveyor to one overlying the treadapplying' conveyor. In

. operation, the arm is swung to place the carrier over the dryingconveyor with the carrier disposed above a tread strip thereupon= andwiththe carrier parallel to the tread strip. The carrier support is thenvertically lowered to cause vacuum cups on the carrier to-engage thetread strip. The carrier support is then raised to cause the tread toclear the drying-conveyor, and the amt is swung tive to other units ofthe system.

conveyor is formed by'ndead' rollers 20 mounted in the incl ned-frame21, and driven, or live rollers 22, are 0 driven by sprockets 23 and:chain 24, sprockets 26 being guide-sprockets. 'The rearward drivenroller is driven .by sprocket .27, chain 28far1d' motor 29. The conveyoris'supporte'd by a pedestal'30 at its rearward end and by rods 31 at itsforward end. Whena tread strip 16 is placed on the applying conveyor bythe transfer unit, motor 29' is started and thetread advanced until itdepresses a'stop roller '32, as 'seen in Fig; 10. This turns .'cros'srod 33, Fig. 9, against counterweight 34 causing i -fil'lgef- 36 toactuate aswitch 37 and stop the'ccnveyor to a position wherein thecarrier support is dispose'd drive. i

lengthwise along the applying-conveyor. The tread carrier is thenangularly shifted to its inclined position ren When the drum at station10 is ready for application that overrides switch 37 and moves the treadat the peripheral speed of the rotating drum so that the tread isdeposited on the drum without distortion. The tread bridges the smallgap between the stop roller and the drum and is thereupon carriedaroundthe drum due to the synchronous motion of drum and conveyor, plusthe tack of the tread and carcass plies C previously applied to the drumat other stations. Stitching roller R is pressed against the tread asthe drum rotates. When the end of the tread clears roller 32, theconveyor is stoppedv Details of the electric relays and switches are notpart of the invention, and such circuits represent routine circuitdesign.

Figs. 2-10 show details of a transfer unit embodying the invention,which unit is mounted adiacent the two conveyors and building station10, as seen in Fig. 1. The unit has a base 41 from which extends avertical sleeve 42 that rotatably supports a columnar shaft 43 by upperand lower bearings 44, Fig. 6. Fixed to the upper end of shaft 43 is acantilever arm 46 that mounts the tread carrier assembly 47. The arm 46is swung from a position wherein the assembly 47 is positioned crosswiseover the drying conveyor to a position in alignment with the tread aplying conveyor (an arc of 143 on the form shown) by mechanism in thebase, Figs. 1 and 6.

A sector gear 48 is keyed to the lower end of vertical shaft 43 and isoscillated from one position to another by a horizontal rack 49, mountedin a suitable guide assembly 50 best seen in Fi s. 1 and 6. The rack 49is given sinusoidal rectilinear motion to give smooth starting andstopping of arm 46 by a rotarv hydraulic motor 57 and a crank assembly.A connecting rod or link 51 is pivoted at one end to the rack by pin 52and at the other end to a pin 53 clamped in a crank 54. The crank iskeved to the shaft 56 of the vane tvpe hydraulic motor 57 that im arts180 rotation to crank 54 between a pair of stops 58. As seen in Fig. 1,the crank 54, connecting rod 51 and rack 49 are all aligned at theextremes of the 180 rotation of the vane in the motor 57 (not shown)such motors being standard commercially sold units. This linkageprovides slow starting of arm 46, rapid intermediate motion, and slowstopping of the arm which reduces inertia forces and smooths theoperation of the unit. The diameter of sector gear 48 is selectedrelative to the length of crank 54 to give the desired angular motion ofarm 46, about 143 in the arrangement shown.

The operation of arm 46 and the tread pick up assembly 47 is animportant feature of the invention. The pick up assembly has two motionsrelative to the arm and its support. One motion is vertical. that is,parallel to the shaft 43. which motion permits the assembly to be raisedby a fluid motor to clear a tread band or a conveyor and lowered toengage a tread band or deposit it on a conveyor. To accomplish this,fluid motor 66 (see Fig. 4) is mounted on arm 46 and has its piston rod67 attached to carrier support member 59 of the pickup assembly. The endof arm 46 is forked and includes vertical guide rods 68 extendingthrough holes 69 in the pickup assembly for slidably supporting thepickup assembly. The pickup assembly is arranged to slide vertically onrods 68 between upper and lower positions in response to the operationof pressure cylinder motor 66. The other motion is an angular motion ofthe tread carrier to its support arm and permits the pick up assembly tobe made parallel to either the horizontal conveyor or the inclinedconveyor. This motion is also caused by an air motor.

The pickup assembly includes a cantilever beam-like member 59 which isslidably engaged with vertical rods 68 and which supports a rectangulartread carrier frame 60 pivoted to member 59 by pins 61 fastened to theoutboard end of the member. The other end of carrier frame 60 issupported by a pin and clevis arrangement 62 that connects to the pistonof a fluid air motor 63, the cylinder of motor 63 being pivotallymounted on the end of the carrier support member 59 remote from pivotconnection 61 by a pivot pin and pillow block assembly 64. Thisarrangement permits fluid motor 63 to pivot the carrier frame 60 fromone angular position to another without binding of the parts. A stop 65is adjustably mounted on carrier support member 59 to insure thatcarrier frame 6%) will assume a position parallel to the drying conveyorat the end of the up stroke of fluid air motor 63.

Figs. 7 and 8 show means for mounting and adjusting the vacuum heads.Fastened to a flange on each stud 77 is a plate 78 screwed to a spider79 having a centrally apertured web 31. To provide angular adjustment ofthe vacuum pick up lip 82, a bolt 83 is provided with a spherical head83a that is frictionally pressed against the edge of the aperture in web81 by a spring 84. The lower end of bolt 83 is threaded into a backingplate 86 that is recessed at 37 to receive the mounting flange of thesoft rubber vacuum sealing and pick up member 82. A vacuum connection 88is provided through plate 86 to the interior of the head, spider 79being notched to receive the vacuum connection. The desired angularadjustment of pick up member 82 is maintained by three jack screws 89adjustably threaded in spider 79 with their heads pressing against plate86.

Operation As mentioned, the control valves and electrical circuits thatmay be provided to provide the properly timed cyclic operation of theentire apparatus described are not shown, these being matters of routinedesign and in fact manual operation of such controls could be providedif speed of operation were not required, thus merely the preferredsequence of steps in the operation need be described and any mechanicskilled in the control field could provide apparatus that would startand stop the various units in the desired sequence and under the timingrequirements of the tire building machine proper.

Starting at the drying conveyor 14, assume that the conveyor hasadvanced to bring a tread strip 16 in the pick up position and hasstopped. The transfer unit will be operated to swing the arm 46 toposition the carrier assembly 47 over the tread strip. The controls oftilt motor 63 will have been operated to pivot carrier frame 60 to itshorizontal position and the controls of the vertical positioning fluidmotor 66 will have been operated to raise the carrier assembly 47 to itsuppermost vertical position. When the arm has placed the pick up frameover the tread strip as described, the controls of fluid motor 66 willbe operated to lower the carrier assembly, including horizontallydisposed carrier frame 60, to bring the rubber cups or lips 82 againstthe surface of the tread strip. As seen, Fig. 3, the angular adjustmentof the vacuum pick up heads permits them to match the underlying contourof the tread strip. Air will then be exhausted from the vacuum heads andfluid motor 66 will again be actuated to raise the carrier assembly 47to cause the tread to clear the conveyor. The controls for motor 57 thatswings the transfer arm 46 will now be actuated to cause the motor crankand connecting rod to retract the rack to the position shown, solidlines in Fig. 1, thus swinging the carrier assembly 47 from its positionover the drying conveyor to a position wherein the carrier frame liesover the tread applying conveyor 13.

Fluid motor 63 will now be actuated to tilt the carrier frame 60 so thatit is parallel to the tread applying conveyor, and fluid motor 66 willbe actuated to lower the carrier assembly and tread to bring the treadstrip in the plane of the conveyor rollers. The vacuum will then bereleased, the carrier assembly will be raised and carrier frame 60 willbe pivoted up to its horizontal position leaving the tread strip on thetread applying conveyor. The tread applying conveyor will now be startedbringing the tread strip to the stop roller on the conveyor, ready forapplication to a tire carcass. As soon as a building drum having acarcass thereon has been transferred to station 10, the tread applyingconveyor will he re-started.

and the building drum will start turning by actuation of suitablecontrol, applying the tread to the tire carcass as previously described.The tread applying conveyor will then be stopped and the drying conveyorwill have been started and stopped to bring another tread strip underthe pickup head of the transfer unit, which will have been positionedover the drying conveyor to receive the tread.

The unit will transfer treads without distorting or stretching them andwill not damage the treads during pickup, transfer and set down. Theunit is easily adjustable for various tread strip lengths, widths, andcontours, and can be precisely aligned with conveyors in differentplanes. The unit adapts itself to synchronized automatic operation withan automatic tire building machine.

Having completed a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of theinvention so that others skilled in the art may practice the same, weclaim:

1. Automatic tire building apparatus comprising a row of tire buildingdrums adapted to be rotatably mounted on horizontal axes, said drumsbeing aligned in a direction perpendicular to their axes, a treadapplying conveyor disposed above and parallel to said row of drums, saidconveyor extending from 'a position adjacent one end that issubstantially above one of the drums to a position at the other end thatis substantially tangent to another drum for applying a tread stripplaced lengthwise on said conveyor to a tire carcass carried by saidother drum, a tread strip delivery conveyor to one side of said row ofdrums and extending angularly toward said other drum and conveyor, saiddelivery conveyor having tread strips disposed crosswise thereon, atread strip transfer device disposed adjacent to said conveyors, saiddevice comprising a tread strip carrier support above said conveyors, anelongated tread strip carrier having an end remote from said other drumpivotably mounted on said support, vacuum tread pickup means on theunderside of said tread strip carrier, means to move said tread stripcarrier support and said carrier from one position wherein said treadstrip carrier is aligned with a tread strip crosswise of said deliveryconveyor to another position wherein said tread strip carrier is alignedwith said tread applying conveyor in its direction of motion toward saidother drum, and means to move said tread strip carrier to a positionparallel to the upper surface or said delivery con-5 veyor when thecarrier is disposed over the delivery conveyor and to an angularposition parallel to the upper surface of said applying conveyor whenthe carrier is disposed above the latter.

2. Apparatus for transferring a rubber tire tread strip from oneconveyor running horizontally to another conveyor running at an angle tothe horizontal and whose paths of motion intersect at an acute angle asmeasured in the horizontal plane, comprising a tread strip carriersupport, an elongated tread strip carrier, means mounting said treadstrip carrier on said carrier support for independent angular motionrelative to said support in the vertical plane, means to both rotate andtranslate said tread strip carrier support transverse to said conveyorin a horizontal plane to position said tread strip carrier selectivelyat a predetermined stopped position over either conveyor, saidtranslating means including mechanism for gradually decelerating saidcarrier support as the carrier approaches each of its predeterminedstopped positions and means to move said tread strip carrier angularlyrelative to its support in said vertical plane to selec- 6 tivelyposition the tread strip carrier parallel to either underlying conveyor.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 including means to independently move saidtread strip carrier support vertically relative to its mounting means tolift a tread strip from one of said conveyors and deposit it on theother of said conveyors.

4. Apparatus for transferring rubber tire tread strip from one conveyorrunning horizontally to another conveyor running at an angle to thehorizontal and whose paths of motion intersect at an acute angle asmeasured in the horizontal plane, comprising an arm pivotally mountedadjacent said conveyors for motion about a vertical axis, a tread stripcarrier support on the end of said arm, a tread strip carrier mounted onsaid carrier support for independent motion relative to said carriersupport in the vertical plane, means for pivoting said arm on saidvertical axis to swing said tread strip carrier translationally to apredetermined position over either conveyor, said pivoting means forsaid arm including mechanism for gradually accelerating the translationmotion of said carrier away from its stopped position over one conveyorand then gradually decelerating the translational motion to thepredetermined stopped position over the other conveyor, and means tomove said other end of said tread strip carrier vertically toselectively make the tread strip carrier parallel to either underlyingconveyor.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including means to move said tread stripcarrier support vertically on said arm to lift the tread strip from oneconveyor and deposit it on the other conveyor.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 including vacuum tread strip pickup means onthe underside of said strip carrier.

7. In a tire building apparatus, a tire building drum, a tread-applyingconveyor disposed substantially tangentially of said drum, means fordelivering tread strips to a location adjoining the drum out ofalignment with said conveyor, a tread strip transfer mechanism fortransferring a tread strip from said delivery means onto said treadapplying conveyor into a position of alignment therewith for applicationto the tire-building drum, said transfer mechanism including a treadstrip carrier support, a tread strip carrier mounted on said support formovement relative to said support for selectively disposing said carrierparallel to said tread strips on the delivery means and parallel to saidconveyor, vacuum cups on the tread-engaging side of said carrierarranged to engage and to conform substantially to the contour of thetread strip, means mounting said carrier support for movement transverseto said conveyor between two predetermined positions to translate saidtread strip carrier selectively to a predetermined position overlying atread strip on said delivery means and to a predetermined positionoverlying said tread-applying conveyor, and means to move said carriersupport between said predetermined positions, the last said meansincluding mechanism for gradually decelerating the motion of saidcarrier support as the support approaches each of its aforesaidpredetermined positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

